SIR Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), the eminent physicist
and astronomer, was honoured last month with an English Heritage
Blue Plaque. The plaque was unveiled by Lord Sainsbury, Science
Minister, at The Oxford Hotel, 16 Penywern Rd, Earls Court, London,
where Lockyer lived between 1876-1920.
Lloyd
Grossman, chairman of the Blue Plaques panel, left with Lord
Sainsbury |
Sir Norman Lockyer, Secretary of The Royal Commission on
Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science (1870-75)
which recommended the setting up of a government Solar Physics
Observatory, discovered in the sun's spectrum the then unknown gas
later christened 'helium'. A pioneer in the observation of
sunspots, he was seconded from the War Office to South Kensington
in 1875.
Appointed lecturer, later professor in Astronomical Physics at
the Normal School of Science in 1881, he also directed the
independent observatory , starting a loan collection of
instruments, which became the Science Museum. The Solar Physics
Observatory became part of the Royal College of Science in 1890 and
had an importance second only to that of Greenwich. Lockyer
remained director until his resignation on the Observatory's
transfer to Cambridge in 1911.
"Sir Norman Lockyer was clearly a remarkable man with an
incredibly wide breadth of achievements, and should be more widely
known than he is. The recognition of his life and work by a blue
plaque is most deserved," said Lord Sainsbury.
He also founded the journal Nature and received the honorary
title of Gwyddon Prydain - the 'Magician of Britain'- in
recognition of his survey work on stone circles in the Swansea
valley and their possible layout in relation to astronomical
alignments, for the Royal Institution of South Wales.
